Her lips curved and she reached up to run her fingernail gently across his jaw. “It was truly my pleasure.”
When brunch was over, everyone said their good-byes.
Brenna went over to Esther and Brock and hugged them.
“I hope you have a wonderful honeymoon.”
“Thank you,” Esther said. “Oh, and we’re going to do a big thing after we get back. We’re having a housewarming party at our new house. Please tell me you and Finn will come?”
“Oh, uh . . .” She looked over at Finn.
Finn gave Esther and Brock a grin. “We’ll be there.”
“Great,” Brock said. “Then we’ll see you after we get back. Knowing Esther, there’ll be some fancy e-vite in your inbox, Brenna.”
Brenna smiled. “I’ll look for it. Now off, you two.”
They wandered around to say good-bye to everyone. Finn had actually formed a nice friendship with some of the people he’d sat with last night. He exchanged numbers with all of them.
“We all need to get together sometime for dinner and drinks,” Sabra said.
Sue nodded. “We definitely should. I make barbecue ribs that would make you cry.”
“Now you’re just teasing us,” Brenna said.
“Sabra and I have a house near the lake,” Dave said. “You all should come up next weekend. We can go out on the boat, go fishing or tubing.”
“Only if Sue makes ribs,” Johan said, then winced when his girlfriend, Hilary, elbowed him.
Finn laughed. “We’d love to come. I’ll bring my homemade whiskey.”
He looked over at Brenna, who nodded. “You know I’ll bring the wine.”
They all started talking over each other about who would bring what foods.
“It’s a date, then,” Sabra said. “Next Saturday. I’ll text everyone.”
After everyone left, Brenna looked at Finn, the expression on her face surprising him.
She looked miserable and unhappy.
“Sorry about that,” she said.
“About what?”
“All of it. The barbecue next weekend, and the invite to Esther and Brock’s house when they get back. I didn’t mean for any of that to happen.”
He frowned. “Why would you think that’s a problem? I like all those people.”
“And all of those people think we’re engaged.”
“Which means, what? You don’t want me to go with you? Is that what you’re saying?”
“No, that’s not what I’m saying at all. I just . . . I don’t know what I’m saying. This was only supposed to be for four days, Finn.”
What the hell? First, she acted like she couldn’t wait to be with him, and now she wanted to back away? He was confused as hell by these mixed signals Brenna was throwing at him. And a little bit pissed off.
“Tell me what you want, Brenna.”
She threw her hands in the air. “I don’t know. I didn’t want this to be complicated. And now it is. I guess I don’t know what I want. I want it to be not complicated.”
“It doesn’t seem complicated to me at all.”
“Oh, really. We have two events at least where we still have to pretend to be engaged.”
“And that’s a problem in what way?”
She blew out a sigh. “I don’t know. I just, it just is.”
“You’re creating problems when there aren’t any.”
“I am not. And I can’t believe you don’t see the issue here.”
Which he didn’t. Other than Brenna creating this argument getting them nowhere.
“I’ll tell you what. When you figure out what you want—or don’t want—you let me know.”
He turned and walked away before he said anything else. Like how much he wanted to be with her next weekend. And the weekend after that. Hell, he wanted to spend even more time with her.
Yeah, time for a break, because leading with his heart was only getting him into trouble.
CHAPTER
• • • • • •
thirteen
BRENNA SAT SILENTLY next to her sisters as they finished dinner.
“Why isn’t Finn here?” her mother asked.
No one answered. Brenna cut into her steak and lifted her fork to her mouth, pausing as she realized everyone was staring at her.
“What?”
“Where’s Finn, Brenna?” Honor asked.
“How should I know?”
“Considering how close you two were at brunch, I thought maybe—”
She cut off her sister with an “I don’t.”
Her mother gave her a concerned look.
She finished off her steak, took her plate and glass into the kitchen and laid them in the sink, then hid out in the library where she could be alone with her thoughts and away from the expectant looks of her family.
She sat in her favorite chair in the corner and pulled her knees up to her chest, staring out the window at the bright sunlight outside.
This was why you don’t date within the scope of the family business. Not that she and Finn had been dating. They hadn’t even started up anything.
Okay, they’d been getting ready to start up something, and then . . .
She had no idea what had happened. They’d gotten hit up with all these invitations, and suddenly this fun, oh-so-temporary engagement had turned into the two of them doing all these things together. Things a couple would do together.
What was she supposed to do about that? They weren’t a couple. They weren’t anything. This whole thing had just been playacting.
She heard a soft knock at the door, and then it opened. Honor peeked her head around it. “Is it okay if I come in?”
“Yes.”
Honor shut the door behind her and took a seat in the chair across from Brenna’s.
“I’m sorry about earlier,” Honor said.
“Me, too. I didn’t mean to bite your head off.”
“I assumed, and I shouldn’t have. But you and Finn have seemed so close the past few days, and I assumed—well, there I go again. Sorry.”
Brenna sighed. “You’re not wrong. We were getting close, and then . . . things happened.”